


a thousand feelings every time i see your body

by AuroraWest



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bottom Loki (Marvel), Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Married Sex, Oral Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Top Stephen Strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:13:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22873813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraWest/pseuds/AuroraWest
Summary: Stephen just wants a good night's sleep. Loki has other ideas.
Relationships: Loki/Stephen Strange
Comments: 12
Kudos: 157
Collections: MHEA Harlequin Hoopla Prompt Challenge 2020





	a thousand feelings every time i see your body

**Author's Note:**

> Title from FKA Twigs's 'One Time'.
> 
> Written for @heamarvel‘s 2020 Harlequin Hoopla, presents prompt for February 23: married sex.

Something frigid was tracing lines over his chest, from his collarbone, down over his heart, around a nipple, then down over his stomach to the elastic waistband of his boxers, then back up. Stephen shivered and mumbled something that he was sure was a crystal clear, “Too early,” but the low chuckle he got in return suggested it might have just been unintelligible.

“I had a dream, Strange,” a voice murmured in his ear. “You were in it.”

The freezing hand was still moving, and now Stephen was awake enough to reach up and grab it. Long, ice-cold fingers wiggled in his grip, and he mumbled, “Bet I was twenty years younger.”

“I didn’t ask, we were far too busy.”

“Oh, _you_ were in the dream too,” Stephen said, more awake now. He opened his eyes just enough to squint at the clock on his bedside table. 3:52. Christ. “I’m going to learn a spell to eliminate your jet lag one of these days.”

Another hand—also freezing—pulled at his hip, turning him onto his back. Not that Stephen put up much resistance. Loki’s smirking face appeared, his hair falling in loose waves around it, his eyes bright and mischievous. Absolutely gorgeous, and absolutely wide awake. “It’s the middle of the morning in New Asgard,” he said, as if this should mean something to Stephen.

“Yeah, time zones, they’re really something,” he said with a yawn.

Loki pursed his lips and he repeated, “I had a _dream._ ”

This time, Stephen was awake enough to hear the growly undercurrent to this statement. Really, ten years into this relationship, one of them married, should have been enough for Stephen to get used to be woken up at all hours by Loki. At least last night he’d come to the Sanctum before midnight, waltzing into the bathroom as Stephen was brushing his teeth. “I thought you weren’t coming until next Wednesday,” Stephen had said, his mouth full of toothpaste.

Loki had wrinkled his nose delicately at this, then shrugged and said, “Thor and Jane are away for the weekend.”

Subtext: _and I’d get lonely there by myself._ Not that Loki would ever, in a million years, admit to this. Stephen had never heard him admit to loneliness in all the years they’d known each other, even though it was clearly something that he was prone to and felt acutely.

“Don’t you have things to do there while they’re gone?” Stephen had asked.

Another shrug. “Brunnhilde knows where to find me. I’ll be back in the morning, anyway.”

Hence the 4 AM wake-up, probably. Loki wanted, and what Loki wanted, Loki got, at least when it came to their relationship. It was a dynamic that Stephen was surprisingly alright with. And it was pretty clear, now that Loki was helpfully pushing his hips into the side of Stephen’s leg, what the dream had been about.

His husband (this still felt like an insane thing to think for a lot of reasons, not the least of which that this was Loki, the God of Mischief, they were talking about), in other words, wanted to fuck, and he wasn’t going to let a little thing like it being way too early stand in his way.

Loki pulled his fingers from Stephen’s grip and resumed running them over his body, though this time, one of them slipped into his underwear. “It’s your fault, I’ll have you know,” he said. “You sleep almost completely unclothed, what do you expect me to dream about?”

“I don’t know,” Stephen said, letting himself just enjoy the feeling of Loki touching him, now that his hands were warming up a bit. “I guess you didn’t have school assemblies? Sometimes I dream about standing in front of one of those with no clothes on.”

With a snort, Loki agreed, “We did not.”

In comparison, unclothed, Loki certainly wasn’t. He was practically Victorian, like he thought the merest glimpse of one of his ankles or wrists was going to send an onlooker into fits. To be fair, Stephen _did_ have kind of a thing for his wrists, so maybe it wasn’t entirely unfounded. He invariably slept in a long-sleeved tunic and pants. Absolutely easier to get off than his normal twenty layers of leather, armor, and underclothes, and Stephen set about removing it now, pulling the tunic over Loki’s head.

It was a glamor day, he noted as he tossed the tunic away and looked at Loki’s chest, pale and unmarked. Which meant Loki was feeling fragile. Which made Stephen’s heart hurt a little. He’d shown his scars before, but he still seemed to balk at doing so most of the time.

Fingers brushed his cock and he let out a slow exhale, then ran one hand down Loki’s ribs while he put the other in his hair, pulling his head down and kissing him. Loki’s tongue flicked into his mouth immediately, with a tiny little, “ _Mmph_ ,” that made a rush of affection and desire course through Stephen.

His cock, already halfway to being hard, stiffened further. Loki made a delighted noise into Stephen’s mouth and closed his hand around his dick, pumping up and down slowly. “I didn’t feel like waiting until next Wednesday anyway,” Loki said, biting at Stephen’s lip and moving his hips.

There had been a time when Stephen might have responded to this, _You know, you could move here, to the Sanctum, permanently. You don’t have to go back and forth to New Asgard; you can keep more than a week’s worth of clothes here._ But they’d had that fight and Stephen didn’t want to have it again. Loki wouldn’t be caged or put in a box, nor would he tolerate any hint or insinuation that either were happening. He’d wear a wedding ring, but he wouldn’t be owned. And Stephen didn’t want to own him. But more than that, he couldn’t stand the idea of Loki thinking, even worrying, that it _was_ what he wanted. He’d fallen in love with the God of Mischief, and it was his wildness, his unpredictability, that made it fun.

“Aw, honey,” Stephen said. “You _missed_ me?”

“Shut up.” Before Stephen had a chance to actually do so, Loki did it for him with a hot, open-mouthed kiss. His hand was still moving on Stephen’s cock and his other was running over his ribs and playing with his nipples. Stephen shakily undid the drawstring of Loki’s pants, loosening the waist so he could slide a hand inside.

Loki’s cock was rock hard, radiating heat, and leaking through his underwear. When Stephen cupped his hand over it, he jerked and moaned, shoving his tongue further into Stephen’s mouth. He put a hand in Loki’s hair again and pulled his face even closer, kissing him hard, biting at his lip, his chin; Loki whimpering as Stephen’s hand rubbed him through his underwear.

“We need—to get these off,” Stephen said hoarsely, when he could keep his tongue out of Loki’s mouth long enough to get words out. It was a struggle.

Arching his hips, Loki breathed, “I think that’s a marvelous idea.”

Not that Stephen had really needed the verbal confirmation. The clothes were coming off, and they were coming off now. Another moment and Loki was naked. He moved his hand from Stephen’s cock and rolled on top of him, running his tongue down his chest until he got to a nipple. As he sucked at it, Stephen groaned and pushed his hips into Loki’s, grabbing his ass and squeezing it as hard as he could. There weren’t too many times that he mourned the loss of his hands these days, but fucking Loki was definitely one of them. It never felt possible to hold him as tightly as he wanted to.

He spread Loki and found his hole with a finger. It was slick, wet, and open, as though he’d just pulled a lubed up butt plug out. He probably had. “You had a dream, huh?” he asked, pushing his finger inside. Loki gasped and whined.

“Well yes,” Loki said, with an exhale of pleasure. He pushed himself back onto Stephen’s finger, moving slowly. His eyes closed and his chin dropped towards his chest. Stephen let him move how he wanted, holding his finger there and adding another. Their cocks were rubbing together through the fabric of Stephen’s boxers, the head of Loki’s poking into Stephen’s stomach each time he rocked forward, and the promise of skin on skin made him ache. Loki made a noise deep in his throat and added, “Though to be fair, I probably had the dream because I’d been thinking about this for hours.”

“You’re kind of shameless,” Stephen said as Loki ground down on his hand and moaned.

With a smirk, Loki pulled himself off Stephen’s finger and sat up, flipping his hair back. Hot as hell. Hot as fucking hell. Or was that hel?

“Oh, I don’t know, Strange,” he said. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of Stephen’s boxers and removed them, running a finger lightly from the base of Stephen’s cock to the head. Then, a sly smile flashing across his face, he straddled him, their cocks grinding together while Loki reached back. His fingers found Stephen’s balls, then his taint, and he worked at both, smiling like a cat playing with a mouse.

_Fuck._ Stephen groaned and closed his eyes tightly, but _that_ was no good, because he wanted to see Loki. So he opened them again, pushing his hips up, his mouth open in a soundless gape of pleasure, while he drank in the sight of Loki on top of him.

“You were saying about _me_ being shameless?” Loki asked. One of his fingers stretched back to circle Stephen’s hole, and he regretted that he hadn’t somehow anticipated Loki’s arrival. Or the fact that Loki would want to have middle-of-the-night sex, once he’d gotten there.

Stephen raked his eyes over Loki, from the way his hips were rocking, up his slim torso to his face. He had the body of a god, there was no doubt about that. What did he care if he was shameless? Who _wouldn’t_ be shameless if they had Loki Odinson on top of them? “How long are you going to sit there?” Stephen asked, his voice coming out as a growl of lust.

With a slight smile, Loki raised a hand to his mouth, sucking on his fingers one at a time, and then wrapping them around Stephen’s cock. “Until you _really_ want it,” he said.

Moaning, Stephen said, “Trust me, I really want it.”

“Mm, I’m not sure.” One hand on his balls, one smearing fluid from his slit and down his throbbing cock, and Stephen panting for it, and he wasn’t _sure_.

“Odinson,” Stephen said. Groaned, actually.

Loki smiled and lifted the hand that had been playing with Stephen’s hole, teasing the entrance and driving him insane. He twirled his fingers and a bottle of lube appeared in them. He looked at it musingly and said, “Have I told you that I accidentally got this out the other week in front of New Asgard’s entire advisory council?”

Despite the fact that he was turned on as hell, Stephen had to laugh. “God. No. How did you manage that?”

“Well, you know, Brunnhilde wanted a drink, I thought I had a flask in the pocket dimension somewhere—” He shrugged.

Running his hands along Loki’s inner thighs, Stephen asked, “Then what happened?”

Loki looked torn between embarrassment and pleasure, especially when Stephen reached and cupped his balls in one hand, massaging gently. He let out a soft exhale and closed his eyes for a second, his hips moving. The sight of his cock bobbing was making Stephen ache. But finally Loki said, “What do you think?” He stopped moving and tilted his head at Stephen. “Everyone had a good laugh at my expense, and the reason I haven’t told you until now is because it was mortifying.” He paused, then added, “And the next day, Brunnhilde bought me another bottle and told me it looked like I was running low.” He flushed, which was adorable.

“Were we?” Stephen asked.

Loki’s face reddened further. “Yes, because we have a lot of sex, which now my brother, my sister-in-law, my king and queen, and Korg are all aware of.”

With a laugh, Stephen pulled Loki towards him until he could kiss him. “I’m not sure it was a big surprise to anyone,” he said.

“Maybe not,” Loki replied, running his tongue across Stephen’s lips. When he straightened up, one of his fingers was glistening with lube, though Stephen hadn’t seen him open the bottle. “Now,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips, “I believe you were trying to convince me that you really wanted it?”

“Oh, I thought the story was to distract me so I wouldn’t take matters into my own hands.”

Raising an eyebrow, Loki said, “Sounds intriguing. What would that entail?”

“ _Loki._ ”

He licked his lips and reached his hand back, finding Stephen’s hole again. This time, his lubed up finger slipped inside easily. “I’m just curious. If I were to—” He crooked his finger and hit Stephen’s prostate, making him suck in a breath and arch his spine. Fuck, fuck fuck _fuck_ Loki’s finger was relentless, it shouldn’t have been, it was just a finger, but he was fucking hitting the exact right spot, and Stephen’s hands clenched and unclenched around the sheets as his vision seemed to telescope. “Mm,” Loki said musingly. “Lovely.”

“Odinson,” Stephen panted. “If you don’t—”

A slow, lascivious grin spread across Loki’s face as Stephen cut off. “Yes?” His finger did something criminal and Stephen moaned from deep in his throat, completely filthy sounding; thank god the Sanctum had soundproof walls. Loki looked like he was enjoying himself immensely, and he was so gorgeous, so hot, that Stephen felt a little like dying from the force of his feelings. Loki brushed his fingers over Stephen’s face, across his lips, then down his throat, chest, stomach, until they closed around his cock, which was hot and throbbing. He desperately wanted to ram it up Loki’s ass, but Loki wasn’t cooperating. Par for the course, though, Loki not cooperating.

Loki’s grin got a little crooked. “It’s just,” he said, “how do I know if I’m _wanted_ without you saying something?” He held the bottle of lube up to his eyes, then turned it over and slowly let it drip onto Stephen’s cock.

Stephen couldn’t do anything but close his eyes and push his head back into the pillow while his toes curled. He couldn’t even move his hips because Loki was sitting on them. This was going to kill him. “Odinson, if you don’t let me have you right now, I’m going to turn you over and fuck you so hard—”

Slowly, Loki smeared lube over Stephen’s cock, lube and the fluid that was leaking out, his palm sliding up and down. “Go on.”

Doing his best to fuck Loki’s hand, Stephen said with another moan, “—you’ll be lucky if I don’t split you open.”

At this, Loki made a noise deep in his throat, a guttural, absolutely dirty moan. If you’d told Stephen thirty years ago that one day he’d be married to a god and causing him to make _that_ noise, he’d have scheduled a follow-up visit and tried to determine if surgery could help with the delusions. Jesus.

He removed his finger from Stephen’s ass. Then Loki lifted his hips, shifting forward, his hand on the base of Stephen’s cock, until he’d positioned himself where he wanted to be. Stephen could feel his entrance on the head of his cock, but he had no control, this was all Loki. And while yeah, sure, there was no prettier sight than Loki on his knees with Stephen’s cock buried in his ass, it was also hard to compete with the view he had now of Loki about to ride him.

There was sweat on Loki’s forehead. Hair was sticking to his forehead and _that_ was sexy. Oh, who was he kidding. Everything about Loki was sexy. He pushed his hips up, pushed his cock into Loki’s ass, but Loki kept him right at the outside, licking his lips and running his fingers around the base of Stephen’s dick.

Stephen ran his hands up Loki’s legs until they reached his hips, where he dug his fingers in as hard as he could. Loki’s hips had always felt like they fit in his hands perfectly, the curve of them made for his palms. “I want you,” he groaned. “Now.”

Loki smiled. “Well,” he said, then opened his mouth to continue. But he looked down at Stephen, his gaze hungry, and slowly closed it. He spread his legs wider and pushed himself back and down onto Stephen’s cock with a low moan of filthy pleasure.

Stephen let out a string of expletives that he wasn’t even aware he’d known as Loki bore down, and when he bottomed out, he grabbed Loki’s hips tighter, pushing him down as he thrust his hips up. Loki was panting something too, mumbled words under his breath as he slowly slid himself up and down the length of Stephen’s cock, his eyes closed as he white knuckled his grip on the sheets. The only thing he caught was Loki’s hissed, “Stephen—” but whatever else there was, it was too low to hear.

The two of them moved together, Stephen flexing his hips up while Loki thrust himself down, and it was slow at first and so hot, Loki’s skin was slicked in sweat under his palms, his mouth open, breath ragged, and the look on his face was—was—he didn’t know, it was dirty, filthy, obscene, and Stephen just wanted to have him, all of him, wanted to fuck him hard all night, all morning, because he knew that he didn’t have Loki, not really, not all of him, and the fact that Loki gave himself completely, even some of the time, was something that Stephen knew enough to savor.

Then Loki began to pick up speed, his sweaty hair swinging around his face. Stephen drank in the sight of him while he could. Beautiful. Magnificent. And way too much. There was no way he could stay in control much longer, not with Loki riding him like that, pounding himself on Stephen’s cock, which felt too throbbing and swollen to do anything but explode. But he hung on a few more moments, his fingers gripping Loki’s hips, a swell of pleasure rising in him, obliterating everything in front of it, building deep in the pit of his stomach and reaching out for the rest of his body. Loki’s cock, the head slick with fluid, was bouncing, and that, _that_ was what did it.

Stephen came hard, thrusting his hips up and leaving them there, moaning and panting as he emptied himself into Loki’s ass. “Loki,” he gasped. “Fuck, Loki…”

Loki laughed delightedly, out of breath. His shoulders were heaving, his eyes were dark, his cock was twitching. He reached for himself, but Stephen grabbed his wrists first. It wasn’t much of a hold. Even if his grip wasn’t weak, Loki was many times stronger than him. But Loki stopped moving and looked at him.

“Come here,” Stephen said. “I want more of you.”

With a helpless noise, Loki pulled himself off Stephen’s cock. Cum leaked out of him, dribbling in a line up Stephen’s stomach and chest as he pulled Loki closer, hands on his ass. He stopped just out of reach, as though he didn’t know what Stephen wanted, and Stephen moved his hands down to the backs of his thighs and tugged him forward.

Loki wobbled on his knees and tipped forward, catching himself on the headboard, making Stephen smile. And Stephen pulled him just a little closer, until he could take Loki in his mouth. His cock slid over Stephen’s tongue, further and further inside, and he relaxed his throat until he felt the swollen head of Loki’s dick hit the back of it. With a shameless moan, Loki started fucking him in the mouth, down the throat, his breathing hard. His skin was slick with sweat and he smelled like sex, Stephen could feel his own cum dripping onto his chest, and the way Loki tasted—

Stephen closed his eyes. If he hadn’t just come, he would again. His cock twitched. Give it a few minutes.

Of course, Loki wasn’t going to last that long. He couldn’t stop moaning and he was moving faster, forcing his cock further down Stephen’s throat. And then he drew in a sharp breath and his muscles tightened. “Stephen,” he groaned, his hips bucking, “I don’t have to—not in your mouth—”

In answer, Stephen wrapped his hands around Loki’s ass and pulled him further inside. It was like this every time, even after ten years, not simply asking if he could come in Stephen’s mouth but actively doubting that Stephen wanted it, and no matter how many times he took it and swallowed—because of course he wanted it, he wanted as much of Loki as possible—there was always the doubt, then gratitude, and he just… He wanted Loki to simply trust this, trust _them_ , trust that Stephen would always want him.

With a shudder, Loki came, cum pouring down Stephen’s throat, his hips moving in little twitches, and then his body going limp as he leaned his full weight against the headboard and slowly pulled his cock from Stephen’s mouth.

As Stephen swallowed, licking his lips to get the string of cum that had trailed from Loki’s dick as he’d removed it, Loki flopped down onto the bed next to him. “Not right,” he mumbled.

“What’s not right?”

“What you do to me,” Loki said.

Grinning lazily, Stephen hooked an arm around Loki’s back and pulled him closer. He kissed Loki slowly, running one hand up and down his body, tracing lines on his sticky skin, along his ribs and down to his ass, back up into his hair. Under his hands, Loki was trembling. “That’s what you get for waking me up before four o’clock,” he said. Tried to, at least, but it probably came out more muffled than he wanted, considering he couldn’t stop kissing Loki.

With an exhale of laughter, Loki said, “It’s after four o’clock now, so I don’t see the problem?”

At least, that was what Stephen thought he said. Again, the kissing made it hard to talk.

“I’m terribly sorry I woke you up early.”

“Mm.”

“To have incredible sex.”

“I don’t think you’re sorry at all, Odinson.”

Loki laughed again and splayed his fingers across Stephen’s chest, circling a finger around a nipple as he slid his tongue into Stephen’s mouth. That made his cock stir and stiffen again, a fact which didn’t escape Loki. With a sigh, Loki reached down and wrapped his hand around Stephen’s dick, jerking him off slowly as he lazily pushed his hips against Stephen. It wasn’t long until he came with a shudder and a groan, burying his face in Loki’s hair and whispering his name.

Running his fingers through Stephen’s hair with his other hand, Loki said, “I’m not sorry, actually.”

Stephen pulled him closer, kissing along his jaw until he got back to his mouth. He could feel Loki smiling as they kissed.

Finally, Loki draped an arm across Stephen’s chest, then tugged Stephen closer still, tucking his head into the crook of his neck so Loki’s face was resting against his hair. His hair, which had more gray in it every day. He was getting older, and Loki had the good graces not to mention it as often as he once had. It had been funny to him before, but Stephen knew it scared him now. Terrified him, probably. Loki looked the same as the day they’d met, and Stephen…didn’t. He’d just leave it at that. They were a May-December romance, but Stephen had never quite been sure which one of them was technically which.

“I love you,” Stephen said, wondering what kind of day this was. Sometimes Loki scoffed and told him he hadn’t learned anything yet, had he? Sometimes he refused to answer at all, a shadow of sadness flickering across his face. Sometimes he just laughed.

But today, Loki kissed his hair softly and said, “I love you too.”

Stephen could feel a scar on Loki’s shoulder, even though he couldn’t see it. Gently, he brushed his lips against it. “I think I’ve been spending too much time around you Asgardians,” he said. “I almost just said ‘I love you, husband.’” There was a silence. “Am I allowed to call you ‘husband’ out loud?”

“Why ever would you not be allowed to?” Loki asked. His voice, at last, sounded sleepy. Perfect. Stephen was wide awake now.

Closing his eyes and cuddling against Loki, he said, “Because you always hated it when I called you my boyfriend.”

With a sniff, Loki said, “Because ‘boyfriend’ sounds puerile and absurd. I’m closing in on eleven hundred years. That’s far too old to be someone’s _boyfriend_.” When Stephen chuckled, he added, “Besides, you only said it because you enjoyed getting a reaction from me.”

“I said it because it was an accurate descriptor of your relationship to me,” Stephen said. Was it his imagination, or could he _hear_ Loki’s eyes rolling? He paused, then added, “ _And_ because I liked getting a reaction out of you.” Sometimes, actually, Stephen was convinced that the main reason Thor liked him was because Loki had finally met his match in the ‘getting a rise out of everyone around him’ department.

There was a disgruntled noise above him and a breath of air ruffled his hair. “ _So_ sorry to have robbed you of that opportunity. I’m surprised you wanted to marry me, considering.”

Stephen smiled into Loki’s skin. “Yeah, yeah. Poor you.”

“I fully recognize your sarcasm, and yet I choose to accept it as validation.” There was a grin in Loki’s voice, a sliver of mischief. “Husband.”

“Now, is this an ‘it’s okay for _you_ to say it’ situation? Or can I, too?”

Loki moved his head so that he could meet Stephen’s eyes. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Stephen’s heart hurt with feeling that didn’t know what to do with itself. This life was insane. He couldn’t bear, sometimes, how lucky he was to have it.

“You may,” Loki said softly. He leaned down to kiss Stephen softly. “I welcome it, in fact.”

Stephen mumbled something back, _good_ or _glad to hear it_ or _then I’ll use it all the time_ , but whatever it was wiped itself from his mind immediately as he lost himself to the feel of Loki’s mouth on his. It was the little things with the God of Mischief. The little alterations he made in his life, the way he stitched himself to Stephen in a million tiny ways. They probably looked like nothing to the people who didn’t know them, who didn’t understand Loki. He knew, though. You didn’t tether the sky or a river. You didn’t cage something wild.

The two of them laid there kissing, the dark, endless minutes of those hours before sunrise slowly ticking by, until Loki said, “I should go.”

Stephen buried his shaking fingers in Loki’s hair, tilting his husband’s head back so he could kiss his throat. “Finally going to let me get some sleep, huh?”

“Yes, I’m very considerate in that way,” Loki said, a crooked smile on his face as he tilted his chin back down. His fingers brushed Stephen’s face. “I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Loki slipped out of their bed, gathering his clothes. Stephen just watched him, reveling in the sight of him, his perfect body, his beautiful face, the way he chewed at the inside of his cheek as he searched for his underwear and the absent movement as he tucked his hair behind one ear. Then, his clothes in his arms and the illegal sling ring that Stephen had given him suddenly on his hand, Loki said, a flicker of a smile on his face, “Or who knows. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow night.”

“I think you mean tonight,” Stephen said.

The smile on Loki’s face got wider. “Do I? Well, perhaps.”

The portal opened, mid-morning light and his bedroom in New Asgard on the other side of it, and he stepped through.

And Stephen was left alone to try to salvage some sleep out of the night. The alarm was going to go off in a few hours, but he’d just hit snooze a dozen times until his wrist cramped and he admitted defeat and got up. The other side of the bed was cooling and Stephen sighed as he closed his eyes, already missing Loki. The Prince of New Asgard had things to do, though. They’d see each other again soon. On Wednesday, he’d come to stay for several days. They’d wake up together. Loki would complain that they were out of his favorite cereal again and wrinkle his nose at the strong coffee Stephen made himself while he sipped at lukewarm tea. Stephen would study and Loki would pull books off the library shelves until he found one that interested him, and then he’d perch on the desk next to Stephen and read, a tiny furrow of concentration on his forehead. It would be nice.

He started to drift off, dreams invading the liminal state between waking and sleeping. An orange glow, and the spit and hiss of sparks.

Then, the mattress shifted down and a warm body slid in next to him. Arms wrapped around him.

And in his ear, Loki’s voice. “I lied. I decided to come back this morning.”


End file.
